BOARD # 19: WIP: Students’ Perceptions of an Innovative Attendance Policy for a Biomedical Engineering Seminar Course
- Conference
- Location
-
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Publication Date
-
June 22, 2025
- Start Date
-
June 22, 2025
- End Date
-
August 15, 2025
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
-
Biomedical Engineering Division (BED)
- Page Count
-
10
- Permanent URL
-
https://peer.asee.org/55543
Paper Authors
AraOluwa Adaramola
Cornell University
orcid.org/0000-0002-2322-7932
AraOluwa Adaramola is a postdoctoral associate at Cornell University.
Alexandra Werth
Cornell University
orcid.org/0000-0003-0310-2654
Alexandra Werth is an assistant professor at the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, specializing in Engineering Education Research (EER). She focuses on developing evidence-based teaching methodologies to foster authentic learning environments. Dr. Werth holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Princeton University, where she developed a non-invasive mid-infrared glucose sensor. She later conducted postdoctoral research in physics education at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she helped develop the first large-enrollment introductory physics course-based research experience (CURE).
Campbell James McColley Cornell University
Dr. Campbell McColley is a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Cornell University in the Biomedical Engineering Education Assessment and Research (BEEAR) Group. He received his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Oregon State University, where he investigated microplastics transformations and behavior in aquatic environments. His work focuses on faculty and student perspectives and experiences with teamwork in the classroom. He is also interested in developing and supporting college-industry partnerships in engineering curricula.
Abstract
(Research Paper) Class attendance is one factor contributing to students’ success in undergraduate classes. Course instructors use attendance policies as classroom management tools to encourage students’ engagement and outline the procedure for absenteeism. They range from strict policies that penalize absent students to lax policies where attendance is encouraged but not enforced. However, these extremes are not suitable for every classroom situation, especially hands-on design and team-based engineering classes. At the same time, providing students with more flexibility often comes at a cost for faculty members and instructional teams who have to make decisions about missed classes and assignments. Understanding how flexible attendance policies affect students’ attendance behaviors and perceptions, and impact instructors’ workload is crucial for designing equitable classroom/attendance policies. This paper presents the impact of an innovative attendance policy on students’ attendance behavior and perceptions of autonomy in a third-year biomedical engineering class. We hope to address the following research questions: (1) Did students perceive the new attendance policy as equitable, why or why not? (2) Did students perceive the new attendance policy as agency-supporting, why or why not? We interviewed two students enrolled in a biomedical engineering seminar course to understand their perceptions of and experience with the innovative attendance policy. We found that students perceived the policy as relatively equitable and supported their agency. These results contribute to efforts to promote equitable engineering classroom cultures that are scalable and manageable for the course instructors.
Adaramola, A., & Werth, A., & McColley, C. J. (2025, June), BOARD # 19: WIP: Students’ Perceptions of an Innovative Attendance Policy for a Biomedical Engineering Seminar Course Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/55543
ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2025 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015